THE 
STORY OF GENLRAL 












-t^ 







'' The patriots Lattled desperately for their lost prize." 

Chap. 2 



Young Folks' Colonial Library 

THE STORY OF 

General Anthony Wayne 

(MAD ANTHONY) 

The Hero of Stony Point 



By 
PERCY K. 
^ITZHUGH 




NEW YORK : 

McLOUGHLIX BROTHERS 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two CoDies Received 

JUL 18 1906 

I ILASS CC XXc. No. 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1906. by 
McLouGHLiN Brothers, New York 



The New Recruit 



CHAPTER I 



CHAPTER n 



A Helpixg Hand 



li 



Despair and Hope 



CHAPTER HI 



CHAPTER IV 



Midnight 



CHAPTER V 



Darkness 



48 



CHAPTER VI 



Dang 



anger 



58 



CHAPTER VII 



Safety 



68 



CHAPTER VIII 



1781 



CHAPTER IX 



Rest 



91 



General Anthony Wayne 

(MAD ANTHONY) 
BORN 1745 DIED 1796 

CHAPTER I. 

THE NEW RECRUIT 




W 



HEN the war for In- 
dependence broke out, 
the Continental Congress 
voted that it was a matter of 
great importance to induce the 
people of Canada to join the 
fight for freedom, and, in case 
they should refuse, to treat 
them as a part of the oppres- 
sive enemy and take their land 
by force. So a large division 

of the Continental army started northward to 

attack Quebec and Montreal. 



6 STORY OF 

Many a man who afterward became famous, 
and whose name is gratefully remembered now, 
joined that gallant army of invasion. And one 
who made a glorious record that he afterwards 
disgraced, fought gallantly among them and was 
carried bleeding from the field. But an enemy 
which no patriotic legion could resist was there to 
meet them — the wind and snow and rain — and this 
great adversary, when it needed re-inforcements, 
sought the aid of famine and disease, until the 
splendid force of patriots who had journeyed 
there with hopeful hearts was reduced to a few 
starving and emaciated men. 

When the roll was called' in that army, whole 
regiments failed to answer. 

This all happened in 1775. They climbed the 
heights of Abraham to take Quebec and failed. 
They approached it from the other side and failed 
again; and in that brave assault upon the old 
walled city, where Wolfe had fallen but a few 
short years before, Montgomery fell dead. Here 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 7 

in the bleak and icy North, General Thomas died 
of small-pox in his little tent. And here the val- 
iant Schuyler fell ill from exposure to the cold. 

They stayed among these merciless walls of ice 
and clouds of snow all winter until five thousand 
of them had perished. JNIisfortune, sickness, 
failure, cold and hunger had attended their ca- 
reer. It was a sad opening for the grand war. 
Finally the remnant of this freezing, spiritless 
host, without shoes, their uniforms in rags, their 
little boats dashed to pieces in the blinding tem- 
pests on the northern rivers, eating the faithful 
dogs that followed them, to keep alive; made its 
way into a camp which General Sullivan had 
formed at Soral, a little distance above Mon- 
treal. Here, they nursed their sick and buried 
their dead and battled with the snow and sleet till 
milder weather came. 

To this exhausted band of suffering patriots, 
came young Anthony Wayne, a farmer and sur- 
veyor of Pennsylvania, with a little regiment of 



8 STORY OF 

volunteers. His arrival must have broken, like 
a ray of sunshine, on the hapless band. 

Wjherever this young man went there was cer- 
tain to be fighting. He had fought all the way 
from Philadelphia. He was the gayest, merriest 
patriot, that ever drew a sword! There were 
some commanders who could journey miles with- 
out encountering an enemy, but HE was sure to 
meet them everywhere. They seemed to be made 
to order especially for his benefit and diversion. 
He had a faculty of coasting into danger wher- 
ever he was sent. He adored liberty, he de- 
spised tyranny , and he loved war for its own sake. 
He had begun to fight when he was ten years old. 

This young man was born on a farm in Ches- 
ter County, Pennsylvania, on New Year's day 
1745. Perhaps he made a New Year's resolution 
then and there to fight whenever the occasion of- 
fered. At any rate, he began his active oper- 
ations before long. When he was old enough his 
parents sent him to a school nearby, where he 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 9 

formed a regiment of infantry, and took com- 
mand of all the other boys, as if he were a commis- 
sioned officer. His teacher sent word home that 
he upset the minds of all the other boys by raising 
sieges, fighting battles, appointing captains and 
lieutenants, and building forts and barricades. 
When he grew to manhood, he became a surveyor, 
as young Washington had done, and won the no- 
tice of Benjamin Franklin for his spirit and in- 
telligence. The wise old man in his fur cap 
and big spectacles rather admired reckless- 
ness, for he had been quite a boy in his day, 
so he recoimnended young Mr. Anthony Wayne, 
to a company of land speculators who were lay- 
ing out some territory in Nova Scotia, which the 
British had taken from the French in the recent 
barbarous war. And they sent the young sur- 
veyor up into old Arcadia, the saddest spot in all 
the land, to represent them there. 

In 1767, he married and settled down to be a 
farmer in the Quaker Colony of William Penn — 



10 



STORY OF 




He took command of all the other boj^s. — Page 9. 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE ]] 

the place where he was born. Here he Hved 
quietly and contentedly, watching with concern, 
the events which were rapidly shaping themselves, 
and which were soon to lead into a glorious and 
righteous war. 

When the battle at Lexington had spread the 
alarm over the country, and stout old Ethan Al- 
len had taken the forts on Lake George and Lake 
Champlain, it occurred to young Anthony that 
he would like to have a hand in all this ; so he came 
forth from his pleasant home and was made a Col- 
onel by the Congress which was then in session at 
Philadelphia. He buckled on his belt and or- 
ganized his regiment and started north towards 
Crown Point and Ticonderoga and the land be- 
yond. 

As he was one of the bravest, staunchest patri- 
ots that fought for independence in those six long 
bitter years, let us follow him throughout that 
stirring period which was given to our first great 
war. 



12 STORY OF 

When this gay young patriot reached the Army 
of the North, he must have been a httle disap- 
pointed to learn that the fighting was all over. 
He found the camp a hospital, filled with forlorn 
and dying men, with officers weary and depressed 
from failure and defeat, and spent with fruit- 
less toil. 

The northern campaign,conceived in hope and 
enthusiasm, had been a horrible and dismal 
failure. 

Exactly how our hero managed to arrange a 
battle, I do not know. But he went out hunting 
for a British company, and found one stationed 
down the St. Lawrence river. Of course a fight 
ensued. He was cannonaded by the enemy and 
had to retreat through a muddy, briary swamp. 
Soon he reached an open plain where he formed 
his men in battle array and forced the Britishers to 
run. A skirmish followed and after a brave re- 
sistance from a force more numerous than his own, 
he was compelled to retire. 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 13 

Before very long the entire northern army was 
transferred to Ticonderoga down on Lake 
George, the fort which Ethan Allen had surprised 
and taken some time before. 

Here, emaciated and half naked, the pitiable, 
straggling remnants of the Ai-my of the North 
were nursed and cared for within the borders of 
their own land. And here Colonel Anthony 
Wayne was soon promoted to the rank of brig- 
adier general and given command of the fine 
old fort. He endured the peace and ease of this 
quiet post as long as he could and then sent word 
to General Washington in New Jersey that he 
would like to join the main army vvhere some 
lively fighting was going on. The commander- 
in-chief invited him to proceed to headquarters, 
and before long he had an opportunity to dis- 
tinguish himself as a remarkable military genius. 



CHAPTER II 



A HELPING HAND 




T 



HE next two 
years were 
busy ones for Gen- 
eral Wayne. He was 
in close touch with 
the main army dur- 
ing all that time. 
It did not take the 
commander-i n-c h i e f 
long to discover that 
the young general 
was remarkable in many ways. There were various 
splendid qualities in his character, but one he had 
which shone out boldly over all the rest — his cour- 
age. He did not know what fear was. He pre- 
ferred to be in front of a cannon rather than be- 
hind it. How he ever got through the war alive 

14 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 15 

is a mystery. Yet he not ooly did this but he con- 
tinued fighting after everyone else had stopped. 
He was probably the bravest man that ever lived. 
He ran into danger with as much delight as most 
people take in running out of it. The enemy 
made fun of him with their tongues and dreaded 
him in their hearts. Washington and Greene 
were brave enough but Anthony Wayne was a 
puzzle to both of them. He was always at the 
head of his column — always at the post of danger. 
He was not afraid of Howe, or Clinton, or Corn- 
wallis or the whole British army — he was not 
afraid of caimon or musketry — he was not afraid 
of hunger or starvation — he was not afraid of 
smallpox — he was afraid of nothing. He hated 
the enemy with patriotic ardor. He loved the din 
and tumult of war. He made more suggestions 
and urged more perilous enterprises than all the 
other generals put together. He did not always 
win, but he enjoyed the fighting just the same. 
When he marched against an opposing force he 



16 STORY OF 

cared nothing whatever for their number or 
equipment. He was startlingly bold and original. 
He moved like lightning. One thing he did has 
come down in history as a work of military genius. 
He was different from all the other generals. 

This man, to whom our country owes so much 
was generous, patriotic and forgiving. When he 
notified the commander-in-chief of his victories, 
he always spoke affectionately and proudly of 
his men, and he never mentioned his own wounds. 
No wonder that he was worshipped. Such a man 
is always worshipped. 

The history of this good and brave man's 
deeds, if they were told in full, would be a history 
of the war. But we must be content with follow- 
ing him here and there, in his rapid course, taking 
hasty glimpses of him as he appears and disap- 
pears and reviewing hastily some of the events in 
w^hich he had a part. I must not forget to tell 
you how he looked, for his countenance attracted 
many before they knew the sort of man he was. 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE |7 

He had a meny, reckless face — a "dare devil" 
face as we would call it now — with a breezy dash- 
ing way about him, and with twinkling eyes. He 
wore a dingy old red coat with an old hat trimmed 
with torn lace, which he usually wore on the side 
of his head. 

At the time that General Wayne arrived to cast 
his fortunes with the main army General Wash- 
ington had almost succeeded in driving the British 
out of the New Jersey colony. The young Gen- 
eral from the North presented himself to the 
chief at Morristown and was given command of 
eight regiments formed into two brigades and 
called the Pennsylvania line. With these brig- 
ades he sallied forth against the few British de- 
tachments that still remained in Jersey. These 
he forced into Amboy with his new and undrilled 
troops, from which place they soon departed for 
their stronghold in New York, and the patriots 
had the pleasant consolation of seeing the en- 
tire Jersey colony quite their own. 



18 STORY OF 

But what would the British do next? In the 
harbor of New York stood the splendid squadron 
of Lord Howe. It might go up the Hudson river 
to join the victorious and terrible Burgoyne. But 
it did not do anything of the sort. It turned 
about and sailed southward and went up Chesa- 
peake Bay to take the capital of the land, where 
Congress was in session, the city of Philadelphia. 
That was a dangerous move for the patriotic 
cause. But it was a good trick. 

As soon as General Wasliington was satisfied 
of this he despatched General Wayne to Wil- 
mington to head off the intruders. Before long 
the whole of the New Jersey army was gathered 
in Pennsylvania resolved to protect the seat of 
government from British occupancy and control. 
Washington with his forces had passed through 
Philadelphia to the country west of the city where 
the Schuylkill river, as crazy and crooked as a 
streak of forked lightning, comes winding down 
to pay its respects to the Quaker city and shoot off 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 19 

west again. But the army of invaders landed at 
the head of Chesapeake bay and pressed on 
boldly toward the wicked city where the Declara- 
tion of Independence had been passed. The first 
interruption which they met with was when 
they were called upon to give battle at the 
Brandywine, a small river, where General Wayne 
was stationed at a ford across the narrow stream. 
Here, A\hile a fierce conflict raged between the 
main armies, the gallant Wayne remained all day 
with his own brigade. Across the shallow stream 
were seven thousand Hessians whom he held at 
bay. These hired foreigners who had no interest 
in the war but for the money they received were 
the crudest soldiers in the whole army of Great 
Britain. Wayne opposed them with skill and 
bravery which became the wonder of that day. 
They could not pass while he was there. His 
gallant soldiers formed a wall which even cannon 
balls seemed not to destroy or weaken. The Ger- 
man troops poured volley after volley of shot 



20 STORY OF 

across at the Pennsylvania line, but the line re- 
mained unbroken. The shooting and cannonad- 
ing were of no avail. They could not drive the 
fearless general from his post. He had been de- 
tailed to protect Chad's ford and he did it with 
courage and success which were miraculous. The 
number he repulsed and kept at bay was five 
times greater than his own. All day long the 
gallant, fearless, reckless general kept his stand 
amid the roar of musketry and fearful onslaughts 
by the hired regiments across the stream. Per- 
haps he had a special hatred for them. 

All day long the main body of the Continental 
army disputed inch by inch the power of the 
British to advance. But the day was lost — lost to 
the patriots in an honorable and glorious defeat, 
which they were forced to suffer at last. The 
holding of Chad's ford in that battle of the 
Brandy wine was the bravest action of the day 
and it was wildly applauded throughout the land. 

The British marched victoriously on and before 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 21 

long were within twenty miles of Philadelphia. 
Here, Washington resolved to engage the enemy 
again and stop, if possible, their march upon the 
Quaker city. Another battle was fought while 
the rain poured down in torrents until the powder 
and cartridges of the armies became saturated 
and both sides surrendered meekly to the Wind- 
ing stonn. Soon, General Wayne was stationed 
on the road to stop the British baggage wagons 
as they passed. Here, at midnight, he was sur- 
prised by a tremendous force whose leader had 
learned of the American position from a Tory spy 
and cruel massacre of the patriots ensued. General 
Wayne escaped with many of his troops but some 
were heartlessly and needlessly murdered. The 
principal thing the British gained in that awful 
raid was the hatred of General Anthony Wayne, 
a thing which they could have very well afforded 
to do without. 

The army of King George marched on and 
soon with shouts of triumph and a baggage train 



22 STORY OF 

ten miles long entered Philadelphia and started 
housekeeping for the ^\ inter. Congress was 
driven from the city and the future for the op- 
pressed and struggling patriots, looked dubious 
indeed. 

After this followed the battle of Germantown 
where Washington tried in vain to regain the city 
and where General Wayne fought bravely 
through that sorrowful day. In the midst of a 
dense fog the patriots battled desperately for 
their lost prize and in the front ranks, charging 
furiously with his brigade, was Anthony Wayne, 
the first to take the field and, as usual, the last to 
leave it when the Continental forces gave up in 
despair. 

The British now held Philadelphia a:id New 
York, and even Ticonderoga, the stronghold of 
the North, had been recaptured by Burgoyne. No 
wonder that Anthony Wayne felt it necessary to 
write to his wife down on the old farm in Chester 
County to bear up under the distressing news — 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 23 

that better times were near at hand. He was al- 
ways hopeful, always cheerful amid disaster and 
defeat, and he looked with confidence and trust 
through the suffering and discord which sur- 
rounded him, believing that the clouds must clear 
away in good time and fortune smile upon the 
glorious cause. So he went on fighting with a 
light heart. 




CHAPTER HI 



DESPAIR AND HOPE 




A 



T about the time 
that General 
Wayne and his division 
were on their way to save 
the Capital City and 
General Washington 
was passing through it 
to meet the advancing 
forces of Great Britain, 
there landed in Philadel- 
phia a young man less 
than twenty -one years old. He had left a home of 
w^ealth and luxury in France and a fair young 
bride to join the fight for independence the news 
of which had fired his young soul. This young 
man was the Marquis de Lafayette who had left 
his native France against the protests of his f am- 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 25 

ily and the urgent pleadings of his friends at 
home to cast his lot together with his splendid for- 
tune with the patriotic army of our land. This 
brave young soldier joined the army before the 
battle at the Brandywine was fought, and he 
proved to be a powerful and loyal ally to the 
cause. Now came the terrible winter at Valley 
Forge where the starving and defeated army 
sought repose; and where the cavalry of the gale 
and the infantry of the blast besieged them in 
their frail log huts. During those fearful months 
— those days of misery and despair — General 
Wayne was the good angel of the camp. He 
purchased clothing for his ragged Continentals 
with his own purse. The torments that the troops 
endured fell heavily upon his own soul. Many a 
night did the brave commander lead some for- 
aging party into the neighboring country, over 
the bleak hills, to bring back cattle and provisions 
to the distressed camp. 

The suffering of the patriot army was pathetic 



26 STORY OF 

— terrible. All about on the white snow which 
covered the camping ground could be traced the 
spots of blood which had dropped from frost- 
bitten and bleeding feet, and which made little 
dotted scarlet trails from hut to hut. Maybe 
you think that it w^as sport to be a Continen- 
tal Soldier! They had no blankets and sat around 
their fires throughout the long cold nights to 
keep from freezing to death. 

With his usual cheerfulness and zeal the leader 
of the Pennsylvania line went forth from these 
scenes of hunger and poverty into New Jersey, 
where he engaged in many skirmishes in search of 
food and always came back like the astonishing 
Paul Jones, loaded down with prizes of various 
sorts. 

What those brave men of the Continental army 
suffered in that awful midnight of the war, the 
hardships and privations they endured, the fear- 
ful agony they bore in silence while the British 
army was dancing to merry music in Philadel- 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 27 

phia and New York will never be told in all the 
fulness of its horror. But this we know^ — that 
General Wayne was active in relieving the suffer- 
ing and want, that he was not too arrogant nor 
proud to do the duty of a common soldier and 
that, when they marched forth in the spring, worn 
and thin, a pitiable band, he accompanied them 
full of hope and courage and with a light heart. 

And then came the battle of Monmouth where 
Molly Pitcher, carrying water to the famished 
troops, saw her husband shot down by the enemy, 
saw him drop dead beneath the cannon he was 
loading, and rushing to the vacant place, loaded 
up the gun herself and sent its contents crash- 
ing among the red-coats! General Washington 
made her a lieutenant when the fight was over 
and gave her a soldier's half -pay for life. Oh, 
that was an exciting day. 

General Clinton who had succeeded Lord 
Howe as chief commander of the British forces, 
withdrew his troops from Philadelphia on hear- 



28 STORY OF 

ing that a large French fleet was approaching. 
The army of Great Britain with an endless 
amount of baggage broke up housekeeping in a 
great hurry and started for New York. General 
Washington had suspected that they would do 
this and hastily leaving the camp at Valley Forge 
pursued them across New Jersey. There was a 
good deal of marching and counter-marching be- 
tween the two armies before they finally met on 
the plains of Monmouth which is near the present 
town of Freehold. 

It was a memorable day. Amid the songs 
of birds and the sw^eet scent of wild flowers, the 
air seemed laden with all the wealth and richness 
of summer. For Nature is always extravagant 
and never poor. It was Sunday morning. The 
sun rose up a dull red in the hazy light of morn, 
an ominous promise of the heat it would pour 
down upon the thirsty land that day. Those who 
told the story of that tranquil Sabbath morning 
after the war had closed, said it was the hottest, 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 29 

sultriest day of all the year. It was the twenty- 
eighth of June 1778. Many a delicate little 
flower that opened its face that morning on the 
great field and looked up to heaven out of the 
thick green grass, was trampled down in human 
blood before the day had closed. Off in the dis- 
tance the church bells could be heard ringing. 

On that calm and fragrant morning twenty 
thousand men took up the cruel implements of 
war while Mature smiled pleasantly upon them. 
The bright red uniforms of one army, its tinselled 
epaulettes and polished buttons, and the glitter- 
ing steel of swords and bayonets, shone dazzling 
in the glai'ing sunlight. The other army was a 
host of long-haired, lanky, ill-clothed men who 
had come forth out of Valley Forge. 

This hapless patriotic legion had been follow- 
ing upon the rear of the British army when Gen- 
eral Washington ordered Major General Chas. 
Lee to advance and attack the British rear guard. 
The main army, under the commander-in-chief, 



30 STORY OF 

was to follow and engage Sir Henry Clinton's 
entire force. With General Lee and his advance 
detachment were Lafayette and Wayne. Lee 
was in command. They hastened on until their 
regiments were almost within striking distance of 
the British rear guard. No one knows the 
thoughts which were revolving in the mind of 
General Lee that day. Xo one has been able to 
determine surely, what he meant to do. But we 
know what he was told to do and that he did not 
do it. We know what he said that he would do 
— and that he broke his word. 

Calling General Wayne, the man who was 
afraid of nothing, he ordered him to ride ahead 
with seven hundred men and attack the left rear 
guard of the enemy, stating that he would follow 
closely after with the remainder of the advance 
force. Riding boldly down the line with his 
handful of men the fearless Wayne, danger-blind 
as some people are color-blind, opened fire on the 
astonished rear guard of Sir Henry Clinton's 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 



31 




I wish to know, sir, the meaning of this confusion." — Page 33. 



32 STORY OF 

army. The fire was instantly returned by a fear- 
ful volley and then, furious at the attack, a large 
force of Britishers charged upon the little Con- 
tinental band. Shrieking his orders like a mad- 
man and waving his sword Anthony Wayne led 
his band of soldiers forward and repulsed the 
British onslaught. Again he was fired upon and 
driven back. Rallying his soldiers for another 
charge he looked behind him for the regiments 
that were to follow, but Lee with his advance 
division was no where to be seen. Soldiers from 
the main body of the British army now rushed 
wildly to the rear guard. Swelling in numbers 
with every second the red-coats bore down once 
more with terrific fury on the little patriotic force. 
And once more, Wayne advanced into their very 
midst, doing terrible damage. But it was like try- 
ing to stay the waves of the ocean. The whole 
British army were turned about and rapidly rein- 
forcing the rear guard. Overwhelmed, the gal- 
lant General Wayne was forced to retreat to the 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 33 

main body of the Continental army. As he gal- 
loped back he overtook many soldiers and officers 
hastening in the same direction. They had been 
ordered to retreat but they did not know why. 
None of them had seen any fighting. 

The troops under the commander-in-chief were 
three miles to the rear, marching forward. When 
General Wayne, blood-stained and dripping with 
the heat, was within a few yards of the chief, 
he saw Lee riding up to General Washington 
from the disorder and confusion of his retreating 
force. Washington was looking about him 
amazed. Turning to Lee in a towering rage he 
demanded to know the meaning of his retreat. 

"I wish to know, sir," he thmidered, "the mean- 
ing of this confusion!" 

Lee tried to explain, but General Washington, 
white with anger, ordered him to the rear. For 
the rest of that long, hot, bloody day, the man 
who had shifted his dangerous responsibility onto 
another vrho he knew would not refuse or shirk 



34 STORY OF 

it and who had then deserted him amid the fire of 
battle and retreated to the rear, watched the action 
of the main forces in haughty silence from a dis- 
tant hill and on the following day was arrested 
for his cowardly and treacherous action, and sub- 
sequently dismissed from the service of his coun- 
try in disgrace.* 

And ever since, there has lurked about the name 
of Lee, the dark suspicion that his crime was 
deeper than it looked, that his cowardice should 
have a blacker name, and that the man who re- 
treated to the rear before the battle had begun, in- 
tended to give the British an advantage which 
would have enabled them to win the day. 

After this disastrous failure of his plans. Gen- 
eral Washington hastened to bring order out of 
discord, to rally the scattered and frightened 
troops and lead them forward. Meanwhile the 
British were bearing down upon them rapidly. 
It was necessary to form some regiments instantly 

* Gates and Lee were both Englishmen by birth. 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 35 

to meet the advancing foe while Washington pro- 
ceeded to the rear where his army was approach- 
ing. Of course Wayne was delegated to this post, 
and he held it gallantly against the British fire 
until the two great armies met in battle array on 
that vast field and fought with desperation until 
the sun went down and darkness came to hide the 
gruesome horrors of that fearful day. 

Some think that the battle of Momnouth was 
an American victory, and such, indeed, it seemed 
to be. But others think that it resulted merely 
in an American advantage. But it was not a 
British victory, you may be assured. 





CHAPTER IV 



MIDNIGHT 



THE night after the battle of ]\Ionmouth 
both armies rested on the bloody field 
intending" to continue fighting the next day; 
but Sir Hem-y Clinton must have changed his 
mind in the dark hours of the night, for when the 
bright sun rose again on that awful plain, the red- 
coat legion with its wounded and its baggage, had 
gone away. They retreated to Sandy Hook and 
soon crossed over to Xew York which was a 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 37 

sort of "home, sweet home" home to them when- 
ever they had been in trouble. Here they settled 
down to social pleasures, the officers gambhng on 
a large scale and the privates gambling on a small 
scale ; and they danced and sang and drank toasts 
and were exceeding merry; and they gave din- 
ners and bowed low and made fine speeches and 
offered their arms to fair ladies and spent their 
money with a free hand and sent misleading and 
untruthful messages to parliament and cursed the 
rebels and gave three cheers for King George. 

The next we see of our hero he is encamped 
with his brigade at Stony Beach on the Hudson 
river about fifty miles above New York. 

Jutting out into the water about fourteen miles 
below him is a little mountainous knob of land 
which in July 1779 was in the hands of the British 
and a strong detachment of the red-coat army 
had been stationed there. It was in reahty, a 
little round hill which was separated from the 
mainland by a wide and treacherous marsh. 



38 STORY OF 

When the tide was low this httle island claimed 
to be a peninsula and when the tide was high the 
peninsula claimed to be an island. But whatever 
it was, it was a British stronghold, there was no 
doubt of that, and the crooked old stone fort up 
on the brow of the hill was well fortified. It had 
belonged to the Americans before Sir Henry 
Chnton took it and fixed it up, and now with its 
new guns and the breastworks all around it and 
its comfortable barracks, it was a very respectable 
sort of fort. The only thing that General Wayne 
had against it was that it was English, otherwise 
he liked it. 

If ever Nature in her wisdom made a place to 
build a fortress. Stony Point was that place. 
Surely it was put there on purpose for a fort. 
You had to go through a great broad, marshy, 
dangerous vestibule and then up a rugged little 
hill, like a bowl upside down, and surrounded by 
water on three sides. While Anthony Wayne 
was in the neighborhood he often passed the 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 39 

quaint old place and longed to have it for his 
own. On one occasion he suggested to General 
Washington that they storm it. 

"Could you do it?" the commander asked. 
Anthony Wayne said not only that he could but 
that he would. General Washington went to the 
point and examined it. He explored the country 
round about the place, and looked up at the fort. 
He examined the marsh and shook his head 
grave'ly. Still, the suggestion interested him, for 
the possession, if it could be gained, would be a 
valuable one indeed. With this fort in the hands 
of the British, their power in that locality was 
likely to spread to alarming proportions. The 
commander-in-chief, who was always cautious, 
said that he would think it over, which he did and 
finally gave his consent. But he feared that he 
was consigning his brave assistant to horrible and 
certain slaughter. 

On the night of July sixteenth, 1779, General 
Anthony Wayne ordered his regiments to be sum- 



40 STORY OF 

moned for review. That day he sent a little party 
down the road toward Stony Point to seize and 
kill all the dogs they could discover on the way. 
The work to be done that night must be done in 
silence. It was eleven o'clock at night when the 
general, with his usual smile, walked up and down 
his line, speaking pleasantly with all the men. 
His heart seemed light as usual, and his mind, 
so far as any one could see, was free from fear. 
Yet every single general in the army who knew 
the nature of the work on hand believed that Gen- 
eral Wayne was going headlong to his death. 
The regiments were ordered by their several lead- 
ers to march as quietly as possible. They were or- 
dered to unload their muskets and each man was 
given a piece of white paper to pin on the front of 
his hat in order that the Continental soldiers 
might be distinguished from an enemy in the 
dark. The brigade was then wheeled about and 
marched southward. 

It was an hour or so past midnight when the 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 41 

troops, not knowing what they were expected tc 
do, reached the marsh which separated the British 
stronghold from the land. Here the troops were 
halted and Anthony Wayne went to take a little 
refreshment at a farmer's house nearby. He aU 
a hasty meal and then sat down and wrote the fol- 
lowing letter to a friend. The hostess who 
handed him the ink and paper said afterward that 
he looked quite gay and happy and thanked hei 
cordially and with a twinkle in his eye. 

''My dear Delaney. This will not 
meet your eye until the writer is no 
more. * * * / know that friend- 
ship will induce you to attend to the 
education of my little son and 
daughter. I fear their mother will 
not survive this stroke. Please go 
to her and lend her your kind offices 
and protection. I send my best 
wishes to you and your family and 
to all friends. * * * 

Yours most sincerely 
Anthony Wayne. 



42 STORY OF 

He then went out and down the road to where 
his troops were waiting. The men were again 
reminded to unload their muskets if any con- 
tained ball and powder. They were then told to 
examine their bayonets and see that these were 
strongly fixed. The password to be used was 
then made known to the soldiers ;"The fort's our 
own!" They were instructed to shout it lustily 
when it should bid fair to be true. They were 
further cautionecf as to the necessity of perfect 
silence in all their movements. Two advance 
guards were then sent forward to tie the sentinels 
and gag them. The brigade was then divided 
into two divisions one of which was led by Gen- 
eral Wayne. They crossed the marsh without 
a sound and one division proceeded to ascend the 
hill on the right while the other pressed up the 
opposite slope. As they neared the fort the gar- 
rison was aroused and turned a heavy cannonade 
upon them and sent a fierce volley of gi-ape shot 
into one of the ascending columns. But the two 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 



43 




"The fort's our own ! " — Paare 4-5. 



44 STORY OF 

columns with their bayonets fixed advanced 
steadily and silently and closed in upon the for- 
tress like the steel jaws of a great machine. Up 
opposite sides of the hill the two divisions came in 
grim silence through the dark. On, on, on, they 
came — slowly, mechanically, and forcing their 
way at the points of their steel spikes into the very 
face of a fearful fire from the awakened and fur- 
ious garrison! And the two divisions met in the 
center of the fort at the same moment having 
pushed their way into the stronghold without the 
firing of a single gun! Scaling the parapet on 
either side the assailants poured into the fortress 
and sent up a cry that sounded over the black 
river. 

"The fort's our own! The fort's our own!" 
And it w as. But where was the beloved com- 
mander? Out near the breastworks a little dis- 
tance from the fort, they found him bleeding, 
with a musket ball in his head. About him was a 
pool of blood. His face was ashy pale. The 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 45 

stream of life was ebbing fast. Major Hull, one 
of his officers, found him there after the patriots 
had entered the fort. He had heard the shouts, 
and drawing the officer toward him, said in a 
failing voice, "Have them carry me in so I may 
die at the head of the column." 

And raising his arm he tried to wave it and 
say, "The fort's our own," but it fell limp and 
powerless at his side. He was canned into the 
fort, bleeding, dying, but in triumph. 

They bore him to the British commander 
and held him while he received the formal 
surrender of the garrison. The British soldiers 
looked at him curiously and reverently. His own 
men gathered about him and cheered until the 
neighboring highlands, under the inspiration of 
those lusty cheers, caught up the swelling sound 
as it poured forth, and tossing it from hill-top to 
hill-top, from cavern to cavern, from glen to glen, 
mingled it with the shrieks of night-birds high 
up in their craggy nests and proclaimed, "The 



46 STORY OF 

fort's our own — the fort's our own!" and sent the 
joyous echo back through cloud and darkness to 
the conquered fort. 

The night passed and still the patriot lingered. 
And many in the British camp across the stream 
asked what sort of thing this "liberty" must be 
if men would go to such extremes to win it. In 
the morning they held him up in order that he 
might report the enterprise to General Wash- 
ington with his own hand. He wrote this note 
and it was carried by a messenger to headquarters. 

Dear General — 

The fort and garrison are ours — Our officers 
and men behaved like men determined to he free. 
Yours Sincerelif, 

Anthony Wayne. 

No mention of his own wound or of his con- 
dition. The men who worshipped him nursed 
him tenderly and soon the scales of life began to 
turn slightly in his favor. And he lived to be com- 
mander in chief of the U. S. Army. In good time 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 47 

he recovered, for as he said himself, he could not 
afford to die — he was too busy. 

Before long we find him with his faithful 
followers encamped near Haverstraw^ on a slope 
along the Hudson River. 




CHAPTER V 



DxVRKNESS 




N 



OW that we have 
Gen. Wayne 
and his Uttle army 
safely quartered near 
Haverstraw, let us 
wander up the moun- 
tainous west bank of the 
Hudson for a hasty 
glimpse of the garrison 
at West Point. It is 
sixteen miles up the river and the jom'ney is over 
rugged peaks and through deep and crooked 
vallej^s. We cannot bend our steps along the 
water's edge, for there is no room to walk between 
the rocky ledges and the shore. Civilization has 
carved a narrow shelf along the brink of the beau- 



48 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 49 

tiful stream since then where thundering trains go 
iTishing back and forth following in their course 
the graceful turns and rounded bays of the placid 
river. 

High up on rolling ground a mile or so above 
the camp at Haverstraw is a small white house 
overlooking the broad river. In it lives a man 
named Smith. Both the house and its occupant 
will play a leading part in the story we have to 
tell. Two miles further over steep and rugged 
heights and we can look down toward the shore 
and see what there is remaining of the old fort 
at Stony Point. There is a public ferry here 
which goes across to Ver plank's Point almost op- 
posite on the eastern shore. When w^e get above 
King's ferry we are within the limits of the gar- 
rison at West Point. First we pass Fort Clin- 
ton, then Fort Montgomery, and then, high 
upon the brow of the mountain. Fort Putnam 
overlooking the country roundabout from its 
mighty pedestal which rises majestically among 



50 STORY OF 

the rolling, clustering hills. Nearly all the ammu- 
nition and provisions that the army owns is 
stored within this fort. The river is quite narrow 
here and looking over we can plainly see Fort 
Constitution on its little island, and just below 
it a long, low mansion on the summit of a woody 
hill which rises from the shore. This mansion 
is the headquarters of the commander of the gar- 
rison, the defender and protector of these forts 
with all their priceless stores — General Ai-nold. 

Down at the shore near his house is a clumsy 
skiff in which the general crosses the river each 
day to inspect the works. The long, low mansion 
was once the residence of a gentleman named 
Robinson who went over to the British when the 
w^ar began, but as he could not take the fine old 
homestead with him it became the property of 
the Americans. 

General Arnold is a little lame from a wound 
that he received at Saratoga while fighting 
against Burgoyne. He has seen active service 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 5] 

for the past five years and now he is enjoying 
the more peaceful duty of protecting these high- 
land forts. But the duty is a serious one for all 
that for if these strongholds with their precious 
stores were to fall into Sir Henry Clinton's hands 
it might end the war and with it all the high 
hopes of liberty and independence which have 
withstood defeat and poverty for five long years. 

Let us wander back again over the mountains 
and through the narrow wooded passes to our 
camp at Haverstraw. See how placidly the river 
hurries on in its journey to the sea! The white 
house up on the green hill just below Stony Point 
is bright in the morning sunlight! How plainly 
one might look across the river from the large 
square window on the second floor. We may 
fall into the narrow beaten path which comes 
winding down from the lonely house, and, fol- 
lowing it, pick our way along to Haverstraw a 
mile or two below. 

Here the light infantry brigade with its gallant 



52 STORY OF 

and beloved commander, is enjoying a little 
repose. 

General Wayne is now a famous man, and all 
the troops are proud of him as well they may be. 
The daring enterprise at Stony Point and its 
wonderful success had raised him to the highest 
pinnacle of glory. It had been the bright spot 
of a dark and sorrowful year. He enjoyed the 
confidence of Washington — a more enviable pos- 
session than all the spoils of war. Major Gen- 
eral Lee, selfish and conceited as he was, and 
hating him in the bargain — could not refrain 
from saying that he had never known of any act 
so bold and original in the history of any war. 
Congress voted a gold medal to the hero and the 
commander-in-chief wrote a glowing letter in his 
praise. In those days nicknames were quite the 
fashion, as they always are in times of war, so 
the good people put their label on the gallant 
general as they had done on Marion and Sumter 
and he was known throughout the colonies as 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 53 

"JMad Anthony Wayne," not because he lost his 
temper but because his reckless daring seemed 
to some as quite insane. 

One night in the pleasant September, when 
the regiments near Haverstraw were resting 
quietly and lonely sentinels marched silently back 
and forth about the sleeping camp, a little boat 
with muffled oars glided noiselessly through the 
darkness toward the western shore. It bore three 
men who talked in whispers when they spoke at 
all. Out in midstream that night there rode at 
anchor, a British sloop of war, and the rippling 
watery path which the little row-boat left behind 
it as it glided silently along, could be traced back 
to this British vessel. The little row-boat made 
its way into a secluded cove overhung with trees 
and thick with foliage where one of the men 
alighted, and looking cautiously about him, 
hastened up a narrow beaten path to a glen not 
far away, where another figure in a long, loose 
cloak, was pacing anxiously back and forth. If 



54 



STORY OF 




Sitting down upon a rock they began to talk in whispers.— Page 55. 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 55 

we could have seen this figure waiting in the 
darkness, we might have noticed that it was a Ht- 
tle lame. 

The man who came up from the row-boat was 
young and handsome and of gentle breeding. 
Beneath his outer garment he wore the uniform 
of his royal IMajesty — George the III. The two 
greeted each other in an undertone, and sitting 
down upon a rock began to talk in whispers. 
What they said there in the darkness no one 
knows, but the man wiio was a little lame gave 
the younger man some maps and charts and pa- 
pers whch have been preserved. These described 
the garrison at West Point and told in detail how 
it might be taken by the enemy. Hour after 
hour they sat there until finally the first pale 
light of morn was visible through the tall trees. 

But still they talked. The night was turning 
slowly now from black to gray — but the whis- 
pered conference went on. One of the men from 
the little boat came up to tell them that day was 



56 STORY OF 

approaching and that if they waited longer in 
the grove they might be seen. They listened to 
his warning and he led the way along a path, not 
down toward the river, but up toward Haver- 
straw. This man was Joshua Smith, the owner 
of the house we noticed. Hurriedly and silently 
they made their way along the path until they 
were within the village, where a sentinel stopping 
them, demanded to know their business. The 
man who was a little lame gave the countersign 
and the soldier allowed them to pass on. 

"My God!" said the young man who wore the 
British uniform "I am within the American lines! 
I was warned and instructed against — " but the 
others told him that he had no cause for fear and 
the trio hastened on. 

They traversed the same path from which we 
saw the white house on the hill, and to this very 
house its owner was leading his companions now. 
Here in this house, overlooking the Hudson, the 
two men talked, while the sun broke through the 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 57 

mist on the river, and poured its radiance down 
upon the highland forts. Pleasantly the rippling 
currents, golden in the sunlight, beat against the 
British sloop of war which still rode at anchor in 
the wide stream. Loudly the bugle sounded in 
the fresh clear air and the regiments at Haver- 
straw rose again from their slumbers. Stealthily 
the man who was a little lame hastened from the 
house and down the hill where his own little skiff 
was waiting at the shore. 

And now there was no need for secrecy. Step- 
ping into the boat and telling his men to row as 
rapidly as possible, the little skiff moved boldly 
up the stream, past Stony Point and King's 
ferry, past Forts Montgomery and Clinton where 
soldiers near the shore saluted as it passed along, 
until the little craft turned its prow full toward 
the eastern shore and soon the general was landed 
at his headquarters. 



CHAPTER VI 



DANGER 




T 



HE young British 
officer was Major 
John Andre the particular 
pet of Sir Henry Clinton 
who was then enjoying 
himself in New York. The 
young man had come from 
the city to the sloop Vul- 
ture with instructions to 
transact the fearful busi- 
nesss there and then return. 
He had been instructed not 
to go within the American lines but he had allowed 
himself to disobey instructions, and in trying to 
destroy or prevent the liberty of America, it 
looked very much as if he had parted with his 
own. It was high time that he returned to the 

5S 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 59 

Vulture. But this he could not do. While Gen- 
eral Arnold had been with him in the early hours 
of the morning they had heard the firing of guns, 
and looking from the large square window on the 
second floor of Smith's house, they had seen the 
Vulture disappearing down the river, driven by 
some American batteries on the eastern shore. As 
the vessel passed from sight behind the range of 
hills and the firing died away, hope died also in 
the young man's heart. He had in his possession 
the secrets of the garrison at West Point, a de- 
scription of how its commander would scatter his 
troops, make a show of resistance and then sur- 
render to the enemy. He held the details of the 
blackest plot that ever had been formed — a plot 
contrived by Benedict Arnold, to sell his country 
for a price. The young man had a pass which 
General Arnold had given him to enable him 
to return by land in which he was described as a 
certain John Anderson who had been to the 
American headquarters on public business. After 



60 STORY OF 

an anxious day young Major Andre with his pass, 
and with a complete disguise which his silent host 
had given him, set forth in the darkness, and 
crossing the river at the public ferry a mile or two 
above the house, bent his steps southward toward 
Dobb's ferry which was just below the American 
lines. How far off must have seemed New York 
that night ! Smith accompanied him part w^ay and 
then left him to whatever fate or happy fortune 
had in store. 

The traveller made his way along inquiring the 
direction as he journeyed on and avoiding the 
suspicious glances of many whom he passed. All 
along the country skirting the eastern bank of the 
Hudson Continental regiments were stationed 
here and there. We may be sure that every sound 
within the woods along the quiet country roads, 
made him start and shudder and filled his mind 
with dread and fear. Once a sentry stopped him 
and asked him who he was and demanded to 
see his pass. But the signature of General Arn- 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 61 

old quieted all doubts, and the sentry allowed him 
to pass on. He slept at a farm house over night 
and after breakfast started forth again with his 
precious packet, and new hope of safety and suc- 
cess sprang up within his heart. Surely with his 
magic pass he could make his way along without 
delay or danger and once within the British lines 
below Dobb's ferry, he could hasten with his val- 
uable papers to New York. 

It will be a proud moment when he can hand 
his packet to Sir Henry Clinton. And then what 
will Sir Henry Clinton do? Why, he will send 
his army up the river to West Point, some by 
water and some by land, and the capture will be 
very easy. The great iron chain across the stream 
at Fort Putnam will have a weakened link so that 
it may be easily broken asunder by the vessels 
as they pass. The garrison will be weakened so 
that it cannot resist, and then Sir Henry Clinton, 
the hero, will take the highland forts. 



62 STORY OF 

Through woods and fields the traveller jour- 
neyed' on, unsuspected and unharmed. 

As there does not seem to be the slightest doubt 
that he will reach the British lines in safety, let 
us return to West Point and leave him to press on. 

It was the third day after the meeting in the 
dark grove below Haverstraw. Three times had 
the bright sun risen over the Hudson River and 
found the flag of the United Colonies there 
to greet it — waving cheerily above the highland 
forts. Anxiously and impatiently did Benedict 
Arnold scan the river from his porch for the ap- 
proach of Sir Henry Clinton's fleet. The delay 
annoyed him for the forts were ready to deliver 
whenever the enemy should come to get them. 
Still they did not come, and the general was 
growing nervous. 

That same day. General Washington with his 
secretary, young Alexander Hamilton, and La- 
fayette and others of his staff was on his way from 
Hartford and had promised himself to visit Gen- 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 63 

eral Arnold's quarters and inspect the forts 
across the river. The commander-in-chief sent 
his aid-de-camp and Hamilton ahead to say to 
General Arnold that they would breakfast with 
him, but the chief did not arrive in time, so the 
general with his family and their guests, sat down 
alone. Mrs. Arnold talked gaily but her husband 
was moody and abstracted. Scarcely had ten 
minutes passed when the sound of horses' hoofs 
could be heard in the distance and in a few sec- 
onds a rider dismounted at the door and a letter 
was brought into the dining room and handed to 
General Arnold. He tore the seal and read it 
while the others waited. As he scanned the note 
his countenance turned pale, but otherwise he 
gave no sign of nervousness or fear. It was not 
so bad. The letter was from the commander of 
an American outpost in the direction of White 
Plains and informed the general that a certain 
man calling himself John Anderson and having 
a pass which he claimed to have been signed by 



64 STORY OF 

Arnold had been aiTested near Tarrytown and 
discovered to be a British spy. They supposed, of 
course, that General Arnold's name was forged 
or that the pass was stolen. He was very much 
relieved, and proceeded to read the postscript. 
This stated that the papers found on the prisoner 
had been forwarded to General Washington who 
was known to be on his way to West Point ! 

General Arnold did not stir. 

What was that? The sound of horses' hoofs 
again? The other messenger with the tell-tale 
papers? If so he would give them to young 
Hamilton for the commander-in-chief. Or per- 
haps General Washington himself was coming at 
last. Or perhaps it was only General Arnold's 
conscience playing tricks. He recovered himself 
and glanced from the window, deathly pale. It 
was only the impatient animal that had brought 
the news from White Plains. Surely it sounded 
further off! 

"Gentlemen," said the general, taking hold of 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 65 

his chair and moving it ne'tvously as he spoke, "I 
have an important communication which calls me 
across the river to the forts. I must beg you to 
make my excuses to General Washington and I 
will return as soon as possible.'^ 

He hurried from the room to the chamber 
above, followed by his wife. He told her in a 
few hurried sentences that his life depended on 
his reaching the British lines without delay. She 
staggered and fell to the floor. He had no 
time to raise her, but rushing from the house and 
down the little hill on a horse which he had or- 
dered ready, directed his servants to row him 
toward the British sloop of \^ ar which was riding 
at anchor down the stream — below the point 
where it had been before. He was armed with 
t^^o pistols and the bewildered, frightened boat- 
men dared not disobey. Thus with danger and 
dishonor and discovery behind him, with murder 
in his heart, with the two pistols clasped tightly 
in his hands, with desperation in his eyes, his 



66 



STORY OF 




He told her in a few hurried sentences. — Pa":e 66. 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 67 

scheme a miserable failure, the flying traitor in 
his little boat glided swiftly down the fair and 
placid Hudson river until he reached the British 
man of war. And then, limping on to her deck, 
this man, Benedict Arnold, whose blood had been 
shed at Saratoga and Quebec, the brave and gal- 
lant leader who had won the praise and confi- 
dence of Washington, who had raised his hand 
and taken the solemn oath of allegiance at Val- 
ley Forge, gave himself, as he had meant to give 
the highland forts, to Sir Henry Clinton and the 
army of King George. 



n 



^rM^ 



CHAPTER VII 



SAFETY 




B 



EFORE long Gen- 
eral W ashington 
arrived with Lafayette and 
his other officers. He was 
told that General Arnold 
had been called across to 
West Point. The only 
^ person in the house who 
knew the truth was the 
traitor's fair young wife 
and she was reported by her 
servant to be unwell and unable to see the guests. 
The commander took a hasty breakfast and went 
across to West Point with his suite to meet Gen- 
eral Arnold and inspect the forts there. At Fort 
Putnam he was told that the general had not been 
there for two days. Yet there was no room for 

68 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 69 

suspicion or distrust in his generous mind. He 
supposed that some mistake had been made. 
Like the courteous and honorable gentleman that 
he was, he thought no evil, but proceeded to in- 
spect the forts. After an hour or so, the chief 
with his attendants started across the river to re- 
turn to headquarters. As they neared the east- 
ern bank young Hamilton was noticed by them 
hurrying toward the shore. He held some papers 
which a messenger had just brought. These he 
handed to General Washington as the chief 
landed, who opened them and learned of Arnold's 
guilt. He stood a moment in silence, and then 
turning to Lafayette and handing him the papers, 
said sadly, "Whom can we trust now?" 

The brave big-hearted man seeing the clouds of 
danger and disaster gathering thick about him, 
was losing hope at last. He had answered the 
call to arms five years before in the prime of 
vigorous manhood, and he had taken upon him- 
self as great a burden as man had ever borne. 



70 STORY OF 

Refusing any pay he had quietly gone about the 
mighty work he had to do. He had known the 
insults and ridicule of the British Gage and his 
tinselled officers. He had known the insolence 
and jealousy of Gates and the treacherous de- 
signs of Lee. He had heard the clatter of idle 
tongues against him and had seen a scheming, 
lying, jealous faction growing up in Congress to 
deprive him of his command. He had lived to see 
his army ill-fed, discouraged, and forlorn. He 
had suffered from wind and snow at Valley 
Forge among the men — suffering all, enduring 
all, with calmness and v/ith patience. It was now 
the last year of the war and he had grown old 
in the service. 

Whom could he trust now^? 

He took the papers back from Lafayette and 
then he took his spectacles off and folded them 
and put them away, without a word. When he 
reached the house he asked to be conducted to 
Mrs. Arnold and on being shown to her apart- 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 71 

ment he expressed his sympathy and asked if 
there was aught that he could do for her happi- 
ness or comfort. Then he came down into the 
dining room where Lafayette and Hamilton 
and others were waiting. 

"Come gentlemen," said the commander-in- 
chief in a quiet tone, ''since ]Mrs. Arnold is ill 
and the general absent, let us sit down without 
ceremony." 

Silently they ate the meal but the question he 
had asked was still imansv,ered; whom could he 
trust now? The garrison at West Point w^as 
scattered and the British were expected up the 
river at any time. No one knew the extent of 
Arnold's scheme nor whom the traitor had em- 
ployed. In his doubt and fear the general's 
thoughts as if by instinct turned to the little camp 
at Haverstraw and "Mad Anthony Wayne." A 
messenger was sent in haste to summon the hero 
of Stony Point with his brigade. 

It was late at night when the messenger on his 



72 STORY OF 

foaming, panting horse dashed into camp. Ask- 
ing at once for General Wayne, he told in a fv^w 
hurried sentences of Arnold's treason and gave 
him General Washington's summons to proceed 
to West Point for the protection of the forts. 
In less than ten minutes the beating of drums 
could be heard, calling the sleeping regiments to 
arms. The men, rising instantly, shouldered 
their muskets and fell into line. And then raising 
his voice in the darkness Anthony Wayne told 
them that Benedict Arnold had gone to the enemy 
and that they must march forward at once to 
guard the highland forts. It was an hour past 
midnight when, amid the roar of drums and call 
of bugles, the light infantry brigade left the 
camp near Haver straw on their journey to the 
North. Not a star was in the sky. 

In less than an hour they reached the house 
where Andre had been concealed but found it 
empty for its owner was held a prisoner at head- 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 73 

quarters and his family had been sent away be- 
fore the treacherous meeting in the grove. 

Over cHffs and crags, through wooded passes 
and narrow winding valleys and deep ravines, 
they journeyed northward in the darkness. In an- 
other hour they passed by Stony Point. Not once 
did the little army halt on its gallant march. For 
every man of them believed that the safety of the 
highland forts was in their hands. Steadily they 
pressed on, now following some trail and now^ 
picking their way as best they might through 
w^oods and tangled brush. Finally they reached a 
level tract and then they fell into line and the 
steady monotonous tramp could be heard far 
ahead. 

At ^ve o'clock in the morning, the commander- 
in-chief, pacing the grounds at West Point, heard 
the muffled sound of drums indistinct in the dis- 
tance. He heard the forts below saluting. 
Louder and louder grew the sound. They were 
passing Fort Clinton. The sound now swelled 



74 STORY OF 

into a mighty roar which seemed to be rolhng 
swiftly toward him. The mountains echoed it 
until it died away into the regular and measured 
tread of marching feet. And then in the pale 
light of the breaking morn, a host of dusty and 
dishevelled uniforms could be distinguished bear- 
ing in upon the northern fort. And at exactly 
twenty minutes past five that morning, having 
traversed sixteen miles of country in four dark 
hours of the night. Mad Anthony Wayne, dusty 
and travel stained, presented himself before 
George Washington, and touching his hat and 
lowering the point of his sword, apologized for 
keeping the commander in suspense so long, and 
awaited orders. 

If we were to follow Benedict Arnold through 
the twenty years of life remaining to him, we 
w^ould have no time to accompany our hero 
on his future expeditions of patriotism and 
bravery. Besides, all that would be another story. 
We followed him a little way because he crossed 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNI 



JD 




He apologized for keeping his commander in suspense so long. 

Page 74 



76 STORY OF 

our path. But with his future life, his sorrow 
and remorse, his poverty and his disgrace, we 
have, at present, no concern. Under the protec- 
tion of the British army, he went to England 
w^hen the war had closed and there he made his 
home. But the nation which had accepted the 
treason came to despise the traitor. The King 
was friendly to him, hut as his Royal Majesty 
was not especially particular about the company 
he kept, this could hardly be regarded as an 
honor. He offered his services to England when 
she had picked another quarrel with France, but 
the British officers declined to serve with him, 
and his offer was refused. 

Thus shunned and hated by all honest men, 
Benedict Arnold, a strange mixture of braver}'' 
and dishonesty — a good general but a bad man — 
dwelt among strangers in a foreign land, and 
died obscure and penniless at the age of sixty- 
one years. 

Nor can we follow young Major Andre on 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 77 

his perilous journey toward the British hnes nor 
review the details of his capture. They took the 
prisoner to Ai'nold's headquarters and then across 
to West Point and then to the pleasant little 
village of Tappan where a detachment of Gen- 
eral Greene's army was encamped. And there 
they stood him on a cart and tied his hands be- 
hind his back and fixed a rope around his neck, 
and when the noose was fastened properly, they 
drove the cart away, and left him dangling from 
an apple-tree. 




CHAPTER VIII 



1781 




w 



JTH General Wayne 
and his division in com- 
mand at West Point, the British 
army in New York did not at- 
tempt its little excursion up the 
river. The gay young officers 
amused themselves with private 
theatricals, which are always 
harmless, and impersonated 
Wayne and Greene and even 
Washington, in their little plays. General 
Wayne was humorously depicted as a tanner with 
a heavy leather apron and a currying knife and 
the man who played the part created quite a 
hearty laugh among his red-coat audience. Ma- 
jor Andre had written some time before, a poem 
of ridicule about the leader of the light brigade 



C-r 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 79 

and the stanzas caused much merriment in the 
British camp. But in their merry parlor enter- 
tainments they did not render the storming of 
Stony Point. Neither did the accomphshed army 
of Sir Henry CHnton go up the Hudson to the 
highland forts. They felt, no doubt, that discre- 
tion was by far the better part of British valor, 
and remained in their comfortable and peaceful 
quarters at New York. 

It w^as about this time that an unfortmiate 
event took place in the Continental camp. A 
number of the soldiers under Gen.Wayne, des- 
perate from want and hunger, organized a revolt 
and left the army in a body. It was through the 
good judgment and influence of their beloved 
commander that their needs were finally supplied, 
as they ought to have been in the first place, and 
most of them returned with patriotic enthusiasm 
to the service. While they were in revolt, Sir 
Henr}^ Clinton sent some spies among them to 
make enticing promises and win them over to the 



80 STORY OF 

British cause. But the men who had revolted 
were not traitors, as his excellency, the baronet, 
had supposed. They seized the messengers who 
came to bribe them and turned them over to Gen- 
eral Wayne politely asking him to hang them as 
a special favor. The general was very glad to 
comply. 

Perhaps I ought to tell you that the poverty of 
the country at that time was the cause of much dis- 
couragement among the brave men who fought 
and that the government, or such government as 
there was, was in a very bad way. The money with 
which the troops were paid was worth but a small 
part of the value printed upon it, and there were 
some foolish men in Philadelphia who thought 
that money could be made by a printing press and 
that there was no cause for anxiety as long as ink 
and paper held out. When I tell you that plain 
old Samuel Adams, a modest man and a Quaker 
at that, paid two thousand dollars for a suit of 
clothes, you will see that money was not worth 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 81 

much in those days, before our country had a sav- 
ings bank to drop its pennies in and a splendid 
national debt as we have now. 

Through all these dark and sad events which it 
has been necessaiy for us to follow, Gen. Wayne 
did not lose heart but felt as he had felt the day 
he first enlisted in the grand old cause that right 
and justice would one day triumph and that in 
spite of poverty and defeat and treason and mis- 
takes ; in spite of ridicule and hardship, a new and 
glorious nation would be born. And this grand 
belief, born of his splendid heart, and his deathless 
patriotism, did not deceive him. For soon it came 
to pass that those who had attacked the right had 
simply hurt themselves. 

It was the dark hour before the dawn. Down 
in the fair South the commander-in-chief, borne 
down with care, could see a star of hope. 

Let us, therefore, leave the Hudson highlands 
and follow the detachment under Gen. Wayne to 
South Carolina where Francis Marion and Sum- 



82 STORY OF 

ter have been making the sunny South exceeding- 
ly cloudy for the British Tarleton for several 
years, and where the faithful Gen. Greene has 
now gone to look after the southern campaign. 

On the 20th of May 1781, Gen. Wayne with 
his detachment, made up partly from the old brig- 
ade and partly of other regiments and fresh re- 
cruits, set out for Virginia where Lafayette was 
encamped. He met the gallant little Frenchman 
at Fredericksburgh with about eight hundred 
men. Here he formed his soldiers into two ba- 
tallions which were known as Wayne's brigade, 
and with this splendid little army under him he 
fought throughout the closing year of the old war. 

The British army in Virginia was commanded 
by Lord Cornwallis, who, v/ith his large and well 
drilled regiments held the country roundabout 
in his control. The small brigade under General 
Wayne, being unequal to the British force in 
numbers, had to be content with checking the raids 
of British detachments sent out from the main 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 83 

army on little expeditions of robbery and the de- 
struction of military stores. Gen. Wayne en- 
gaged his time in Virginia much the same as 
Francis Marion in the Carolinas and he proved to 
be quite as active and terrible. 

All this time General Washington in the Xorth 
v/as forming his plans for the capture of Lord 
Cornwallis. It had been a hard year in the north- 
em colonies. The winter was one of the most 
terrific in the history of our land. The troops 
quartered about Xew Jersey and New York had 
suffered terribly from w^ant of food. The army 
of freedom was poor — fearfidly poor. What 
wonder that the wretched patriots looked longing- 
ly toward the South? 

Before very long my Lord Cornwallis, who had 
been having things rather his own v/ay in Virginia 
began to realize that Anthony Wayne was get- 
ting to be quite a nuisance. Just so sure as the 
British commander sent a detachment any w^here 
for any purpose the gallant Wayne would follow 



84 STORY OF 

it and a skirmish would ensue. And the most dis- 
tressing part was that he enjoyed it so. At Green 
Springs Gen. Wayne engaged in another one of 
his "JMad Anthony" enterprizes. In a thought- 
less and unguarded moment, the British general 
had allow^ed his army to become divided by a river 
and General Wayne took advantage of the occa- 
sion to attack one side, causing great damage and 
consternation, and retreated in a most mysterious 
manner. 

It must have been a discouraging and troublous 
period just then for his majesty's commander in 
Virginia. With Marion and Wayne and Sum- 
ter galloping about the country and doing all sorts 
of surprising and unaccountable things, with mid- 
night attacks and sudden skirmishes, it must have 
seemed advisable to my lord and his friends in 
South Carolina to come together and seek some 
safe retreat and not despatch stray regiments and 
companies about the country. 

Co-operating with Lafayette who was near him 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 85 

with Gen. Greene and others in the South, the gal- 
lant Wayne by his activity and boldness, by his 
wonderful originality and skill, prepared the way 
for the grand event which was then almost at 
hand. What he could not do with power and 
numbers, he did with strategy. He was in the 
confidence of Greene and Washington and had a 
duty to perform. He was to prepare the way — 
to ride ahead of the event which Gen. Washington 
with matchless skill and calculation had contrived 
and planned. With the heart of a careless boy, 
with resource and rapidity quite unique, he took 
from the British army little slices of its power; 
bothered it, harassed it, surprised it, continually, 
until Cornwallis, weary and distracted led his 
large army into Yorktown, from which, after a 
bitter siege they came forth, humbled and defeat- 
ed, to battle against American liberty no more. 

The acting of this last scene in the great bloody 
drama in which our fathers fought, the gathering 
of the allied armies of America and France, the 



86 STORY OF 

sudden march of General Washington from the 
north, the assembHng of the several fleets off York- 
town in the river, the despair and wrath of Clinton 
in New York when he saw, too late, the meaning 
of it all, are too well known to need rehearsal here 
Besides, the hero of these pages, great and splen- 
did as were his deeds, v/as but a single|figure in the 
glorious and thrilling scene. But still he played his 
part, gallantly, unselfishly, and nobly, as he had 
done throughout the long and bitter war. 

The splendid though complicated plans of the 
commander-in-chief were put in motion, not by 
himself alone, but by the few of his generals in 
whose bravery and characters he could place im- 
plicit trust, in Greene and Lafayette, and Mad 
Anthony Wayne. 

From scenes of discouragement and doubtful 
hopes, from the soil which had been defiled by a 
low and treacherous plot, from suffering and! 
want, a vast host of ragged unkempt men, worn 
and gaunt with hunger, ill clothed, the ridicule of 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 



87 




Slowly, to the beating of drums, the army of King George III 
marched out of Yorktown. — Page 90. 



88 STORY OF 

the Society regiments in New York, set forth 
from the northern colonies to fair Virginia, where 
kind fortune, loving justice as she does, was about 
to hand tliem their reward. 

Ah, Sir Henry Clinton, it is too late now! The 
die is cast! You had not brains enough with all 
your arts of war to see what they were going to do. 
You thought they would attack you in New York. 
And now you think to keep them back by sending 
your faithful servant to attack New London in 
Connecticut. It is too late, they have gone! 

They gathered about Yorktown in thousands 
and aided by the French they formed a great hu- 
man horse shoe around the town whose two ends 
touched the river where the French and Continen- 
tal vessels lay. They covered a vast plain outside 
the city, and every colony was represented there. 
There was no way out, but through the mighty 
camp. There were men in that vast concourse 
who had come through suffering and danger in 
the seven years just past, who had their shoes tied 

LOFC 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 89 

on with rope, who had hved the cruel winters out 
at Canada and Valley Forge, who had seen defeat 
and kept their hope and courage through it all. 
The scene was not sullied by the presence of a 
single man who had not helped to make the issue 
possible. Gates was not there. Lee was not 
there. But Anthony Wayne, the right-hand man 
of Monmouth, the friend in need on the Hudson 
highlands, the genius of Stony Point, was there. 
And he deserved to be for he had helped to make 
the way. He had gone down into Virginia to en- 
counter there a powerful army, arrogant in its un- 
contested power. And* he had been the first to 
push Cornwallis to the wall. 

The siege of Yorktown and the surrender of 
Cornwallis, forming as they did the glorious cli- 
max of the old war, would not have been complete 
without him. For he was among' the few w^ho, 
through all the changes of fate and fortune, had 
seen the end from the beginning. He had fought 



90 STORY OF 

from the snows of Canada to the sultry fields of 
Narth Carolina. 

Slowly to the beating of drums, the army of 
King George III marched out from Yorktown 
onto the open plain outside and there in his belov- 
ed Virginia, General Washington received the 
submission of Lord Cornwallis, and knew that 
the fight for liberty and independence, was draw- 
ing to a close. 




CHAPTER IX 




B 



REST 

UT it was some time before 
any treaty of peace was 
signed, though the surrender of 
Lord Cornwallis was, as he himself 
knew, the beginning of the end. 
All that remained was the work of 
clearing up. General Wayne was 
sent to Georgia where he fought 
mitil the British had been driven 
^ out of that State. The iahabitants 
there presented him with a large 
plantation in testimony of their 
gratitude and admiration. There were some 
British odds and ends still left in South Carolina, 
so the gallant leader proceeded there with his 
brigade and while other divisions of the Army 
were packing up and looking longingly toward 



92 STORY OF 

home he continued to battle desperately until the 
last private in the army of King- George had been 
withdrawn from the land. 

The patriot then went home — went home to his 
farm in Chester county, to his wife and children, 
to the beloved surroundings he had left with such 
enthusiasm seven years before. But he was not 
destined to enjoy this peace and quiet long. The 
Indians, who had been the allies of the British, 
were still active in their hostilities, and fright- 
ful tales of massacre and outrage came in from 
the gi^at West. In the midst of these reports 
all eyes turned upon General Wayne, and Wash- 
ington, who was then president, appointed him 
commander-in-chief of all the military forces in 
America with instructions to journey westward 
and secure peace along the western frontiers. 
Victory after victory attended him and when he 
returned to Philadelphia the entire city suspended 
business to welcome the valiant soldier home. 
It was an impressive scene — the like of which 



GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 93 

seldom falls to the lot of any character to enjoy. 

He had lived to know renown, to be the sub- 
ject of national applause, to hear his name 
shouted from housetops, to receive all the honors 
that a grateful country could bestow. He was 
reverenced, honored, loved. The name of "Mad 
Anthony" was known throughout the world. His 
march into the Quaker city when returning from 
the Indian campaign, was received with universal 
joy. The whole town was ablaze with flags and 
banners and with cheering multitudes. The fair 
maidens hurled flowers at him as he passed along. 
In every window anxious faces crowded and from 
balconies and trees scores looked down upon him 
— all anxious to honor the great Pennsylvanian, 
the hero of Stony Point, the man, the patriot, the 
genius ! 

As the modest, unassuming general rode 
through town he saw on every hand the public 
tributes to his glory. Yet he did not understand 
them for he was a plain and simple man. He 



94 STORY OF 

had begun to fight in obscurity, to do his httle 
part in carving out his country's freedom, and 
now he found himself a hero. Taking off his hat 
and looking curiously about him as if to seek the 
meaning of it all he rode along while the shouts 
of thousands of his fellow citizens were ringing 
in his ears. 

There is little more to tell, for the inevitable 
was near at hand. At a military post on the 
shores of Lake Erie, where the flourishing town 
of Erie, Pa., now stands, ^lad Anthony Wayne 
smilingly laid down his burden amid the snows 
of December in the year 1796, and the most origi- 
nal soldier of the war for Independence and one 
of the best and bravest men that ever lived, 
rested peacefully at last. 



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